Egypt's Commercial International Bank agreed to acquire Citibank Egypt's retail unit as the U.S. bank withdraws from less profitable emerging-market businesses.
About 900 full-time consumer banking and contract employees, eight Citi branches and the ATMnetwork in Egypt will transfer to Commercial International Bank, Citigroup Inc said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday. The sale, subject to regulatory approvals, is targeted to close later this year. Financial details weren't disclosed.
Citigroup is exiting consumer banking in 11 countries to focus on markets where it has the greatest scale and growth potential. It received bids for the Egyptian business from Dubai-based Emirates NBD PJSC and Mashreqbank PSC earlier this year, four people with knowledge of the matter said in January.
The lender's consumer, securities and banking businesses serve more than 100,000 individual accounts and companies from nine branches in Cairo and Alexandria, according to information on its website.
"Among the main attractions of the deal was the high quality portfolio and excellent skill set of the staff," Commercial International Bank Managing Director Hisham Ezz Al- Arab said in a separate statement.
